ICRC Library

About the ICRC Library

Created in 1863, the Library of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is almost as old as the institution itself. The library’s collections reflect the work of the ICRC to protect and assist victims of armed conflict throughout 150 years of humanitarian action.

The ICRC Library’s main collection focus on international humanitarian law (IHL), the work of the ICRC and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the challenges of humanitarian work, issues of humanitarian concern in war and the history and development of armed conflict. The ICRC Library’s other areas of interest include international criminal law, human rights, weapons, detention, refugees and displaced persons.

The ICRC Library also holds specific collections

Rare documents dating back to the creation of the ICRC up until the end of World War I

National Societies publications, from their creation up until the 70′

Legislation enacted by States to implement IHL at the domestic level, as well as case law and military manuals

Preparatory documents and final acts from the diplomatic conferences of 1949, 1977 and 2005

Preparatory documents and final reports from the Council of Delegates and the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

The International Review of the Red Cross from its first issue

All ICRC HQ publications

The ICRC Library Team welcomes researchers and visitors and brings to their disposal:

Cross-Files

The ICRC Library and Archives official blog allows the ICRC Library Team to communicate on its work aiming to bring the ICRC Library’s collections closer to the researchers, such as:

The last digitised documents

The last acquired documents

Its quarterly and annual IHL bibliography

Research guides

etc.

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ABOUT CROSS-FILES

CROSS-Files is the ICRC Library and Archives - including audiovisual archives - official blog. Its purpose is to
highlight and bring out specific items or collections as a whole. We encourage researcher to explore ICRC History, IHL and humanitarian action through these collections and we provide tools to support this exploration.